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Wednesday, 23 November 2016

#WEPFF GUEST POST - WRITING ADVICE FROM PATRICK HATT

Patrick Hatt, the winner of the WEP Halloween/Constellations Challenge volunteered, after
we twisted his arm to write a guest post on Writing Advice. The Rhyme King
doesn't disappoint!

Take
it away Pat!

After winning, the first thing they asked me to do was work.
How’s that for a prize? But is it really work? That question you’ll get a lot
when it comes to writing and anyone with half a brain knows that it is. Also
those in the know realize you could probably make more money robbing the
nearest poor box, but you’d go to jail for that, so best to avoid it and keep
writing.

Wait a moment. Aren’t I here to give advice? Wasn’t there
some in there? Hmmm, I guess I will have to try harder. Maybe I’ll go with the
tried and true, which I have used as well, just write. There is your advice for
the day. If you want to write, just write. That is some helpful, isn’t it? I
could stop right here and my work would be done. But now I’m on a roll so I’ll
just write some more and show you how easy it is.

I know you are thirsty for more advice. So let’s turn our
attention to marketing……… One year later I have finally come back to this post.
These are the first words I’ve written in a year. Wow, isn’t marketing fun?
When you learn the secret to it, could you drop me a line? I know that makes
work for you but I spent a year doing it to try and give advice before
returning to this post. That makes up for it, right?

Wow, and I still made the post date on time. Some time
travel stuff going on right there. I’ll give you the lottery numbers for a cut
of the profit. This just writing thing is sure going down many a path. Is the
road to writing paved with good intentions? Or would that be good imagination?
The voices in my head are still arguing about that one, so we’ll move on.

On to what? On to editing. Like how well I edited this.
Don’t you see how many times I used “so” and the like. That is some stellar
editing right there. Hey, at least I barely use seemed and just anymore. But it
seems you just made me use them there. Twice! I’m on a roll. I used them five
more times since then but I edited them out, so you’d never know. I caught
myself and then spilled the beans to you. I hope such beans don’t make you
toot.

What was next? Oh yes, time. Time is a fickle thing, even
with time travel. You have to make time, find time, create time, have free
time, lunch time, supper time, bathroom time, breakfast time, bed time…Where
was I? Oh yes. You need the time to just write. How can you get that? Plan
ahead like the cat. Just write like him. Just do it like Nike says. Write at
work like her. Don’t sleep like them. Play hooky like they. The dreaded they
must really be in the know. After all, they get blamed for everything.

I bet by now you think I’m a nut, if you didn’t realize that
before this. Do you hear me disagreeing with you? Nope. Do you hear me telling
you what to do? Nope. Because I’m typing this so you can’t hear me and I can’t
hear you. Just saying. Why is that? If I must, I shall quote the cat.

Pfffffffffffft is the only real advice I will give. Why?
Because like everything else out there, people are different. Have different
likes, dislikes, lives, etc. So why does anyone think one writing style or way
to do it fits all? You do what is best for you. Take all the tips and advice
and the like and mold them to your writing style and life. Don’t worry that a
rhyming cat posts every day or a person has 50 novels while you have 2. Do what
you can do and damn the rest. Why? Because then you will enjoy it more and want
to keep on keeping on. If you keep comparing yourself to others, you’ll never
get to where you want to be for you and you may get discouraged easier and
quit. You want to write, so use the “just write” advice, but just write how and
what works for you. That way you will truly do what needs to be done, which is,
keep on keeping on. And that is the best advice I can give for anything in
life. No matter the crap, you have to push through and do what is best for you.

I could keep on keeping on but I ranted enough. So I will
end this with far less class and go out saying I hope you keep on keeping on
like my little rhyming ass.

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So cool. I woke up this morning with my story for the next challenge forming! Planned to start writing it at 6:30 AM but now it's 9:30 AM and not one word is on paper. Oops, got caught up in the time consuming blog surfing. Time to get to work! :)Congratulations! Great post - thanks a million!

Congratulations, Pat, on the win, and the guest post. I guess they needed something to fill the space on the day not very many people were on the internet. Unless they were streaming football... Just teasing! You may my head spin with this one. Keep right on ranting cuz you can never write too much!

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